LATEST HOMILY
23st SUNDAY of EASTER
September 6, 2026

Focus: Love guides the truth we profess to those who do not have Christ. 
Function: Proclaim the truth with a desire for righteous but with a heart of love and charity. 

I am sure we all have that one person or many persons in our life that always keeps us close to Christ’s cross. We all have someone in our lives we want to help keep on the straight and narrow and we want the best for them but somehow it seems as if they do not want the best for themselves. We tell them: “Hey you should come to Mass,” or “You really should establish a relationship with Jesus.” Maybe we have even asked them to consider going to confession knowing that their lives are extremely wayward and we know they are lost with out God and are losing their souls. We want to speak to them about the saving power of Jesus and how a life of sin only leads to a spiritual death. We want them to follow Jesus so badly. However, the minute we talk to them about their way of life they either feel judged or start saying: “I don’t need to go to Church, God knows my heart, so you can’t judge me!” This can feel defeating and makes us want to give up on the person, even stop praying for them. It makes you wander if the person is worth saving. But here’s the truth we need to hear. They are worth saving, so do not give up. Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to lead a soul to Jesus. 

Saint Paul reminds us that we do not owe anyone anything except love. To love one another is the commandment that sums up the 630 divine commandments in scripture. Love is willing the good of the other. It is wanting the best for the person, or persons, we are connected to. I am sure we hear songs of love as a feeling or what does love have to do with it. Love is more than just a feeling; it is action based off of the will and desire for other to do good and be good. It takes sacrifice, and it takes coming out of our comfort to do the works of God for our neighbor. When we speak the truth to those who may not know it or do not want to accept it, always remember we do it out of love. The people in our lives who may be living waywardly already know they struggle with sin, may be even serious sin. But what they do not know is that there is someone who wants to love them and show them that they are not defined by their sins but by the fact they are loved and created by God. We are quick to call out all the reasons in the world as to why our wayward family is not coming to conversion. But have we ever thought the one reason they are not coming to conversion in Christ is because of the way we present conversion to them. Beating our family members and friends over the head with Scripture and quoting proverbs does not bring anyone from a heart of stone to flesh. Rather, it takes a life that lives out the scriptures in love that invites our neighbor to open up, even just a little bit. 

When Jesus spent time with the outcasts and undesirables of Israel, he knew that they were all struggling with serious sins. What made them convert their hearts to him was realizing that they had found real love from a person who they knew had every right to judge them but did not. They came to the realization that love nor goodness could not be found in their sinful habits they possessed. On the contrary, these sinful habits drained what was already good and loveable in them. It was Christ in the establishment of His Kingdom of Love that brought them to this understanding. My friends, when we approach correcting a brother or sister in the truth, always remember truth is guided with charity, patience, and love. It is how we speak the truth to them and how we show it! Who is to say that the disciples of Christ did not struggle with repeated sins? Peter cut off the ear of a man and denied Christ three times. James and John sought ambitions to sit in Christ’s power and when Christ really needed all of them at his dying hour, eleven of the twelve left him for dead on a tree. But when he rose in glory, he told Mary Magdelene (the one who had several demons cast out of her) to have his brothers meet him Galilee. What patience?! What forgiveness?! What love?! The lesson Ezekiel, Paul and Christ teach us today is not simply telling people the truth to make sure we are in the clear to get into Heaven; such an attitude may cost us to lose Heaven. Instead, we are called to love to the point of our own death so that the wayward who walks in death may walk in the light of life. The best way to tell our loved ones the truth is through relentless love. Love never fails and no matter how long it may take for our wayward family to see it, keep on loving them. We may not live to see their conversion but something will prick their conscience to realize someone was reaching out to them in the midst of their drifting and that very realization may be the coordinates that point them to the horizon of God’s love. Do not give up on anyone because love has never given up on us. We are all on the journey of living out truth, it is just wonderful to have other companions on the journey with us, just remember to invite them with love. 

AMEN.